


Corrupted.

by TheHellHounder



Category: Original Work
Genre: Corruption, Elves, Multi, Pixies, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-09-08 12:38:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8845411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHellHounder/pseuds/TheHellHounder
Summary: They didn't do anything to her, yet she hates them anyway, wants to destroy them. Perhaps it's because she blames them for the death of her late husband? Or maybe there's a darker force at work inside her, corrupting and twisting what was once a good and kind soul into something worth killing? Is she really even the enemy? Even more, will Claudina have what it takes to save her people from her? Will she have what it takes to kill?





	1. Murdered - Claudina

Little kids shouldn’t have to fight their parents’ battles. They should never have to be afraid that the bad guys are going to come hurt them, or that the bad guys are going to hurt their parents. Little kids should only have to worry about being little kids. That’s why the war shouldn’t have started. Lilly was too young to have been dealing with this. She was too young to have been fighting my battles. She was only 11.

Unfortunately for us, at this point the war cannot be stopped, not until I have Perria’s head on a pike. I know those are thoughts that breed darkness and Corruption, but she cannot get away with what she’s done. I will not let her get away with tearing my family apart. I love them too much to let their hurt go unavenged.

This whole thing started on my eldest daughter’s sixteenth birthday. I was thirty-one, and my husband thirty-two, and we had the whole day planned out for her. It would start with a beautiful breakfast comprised of only her favorite foods, and then we’d go out into town so she could speak with our people and they could all wish her a happy birthday. That, um, that never got to happen. Breakfast was chaos.

Luna, our second and middle daughter, brought one of Nrenighnx’s soldiers to breakfast with her, late. His name is Lucas, and he’s a good man, but it just so happens that Luna and Lucas had been seeing eachother against my husband’s wishes and that morning Luna had a ring on her left hand. Lucas had proposed without getting Nrenighnx’s permission, and the hot-headed fool got angry, and to avoid hurting someone he stormed off and out of the city, to the lake. By the time I got out there he was sat in the sand and staring off into the distance. There weren’t tears on his face, he hadn’t been crying. That would have been extremely out of character for him. My husband doesn’t cry. He pouts and stomps his feet and punches walls, but he doesn’t cry.

I sat myself down beside him and placed my hand on his knee, looking at him as he made an effort to not look at me. “It’s all right, love.” I said, “Lucas is good. He’s never hurt her, never even so much as said a bad word about her. They’re good for eachother.”

“No they’re not.” he said, “No one is good enough for my daughter. For any of them. He’ll just break her heart. I can’t have that. We can’t have that, Claudina. I will not let anyone hurt our little girls.” There was pain in his voice. I could tell that this upset him more than he was letting on.

I gently took hold of his hand and ran my thumb across his knuckles. They were rough and bruised from the night before when he’d gotten angry ranting about his soldiers and how the new recruits had no respect for their commanding officers or their King. This gentle caressing of his hand got him looking at me.

I looked into his eyes and I said, “Nre, you can’t always protect them. They’re going to grow up and they’re going to go off and love who they love and date who they date, and there isn’t anything you can do about it. And no matter what they do or where they go or who they love, you will always remain in their heart, and they will always think of you. When the man they love does something, they will think of you. They will think of how you always loved and cared for me and for them, and they won’t accept any less from any other man in their life. You don’t have to worry about them. They know you love them and that you’ll do anything to protect them. And Lucas is so good, love. He loves her so much. Trust me.”

His gaze softened and he squeezed my hand. “Claudina, I love you more than the world, do you know that? I love you more than the Stars.”

“That’s blasphemy!” I laughed, playfully smacking his arm. “You shouldn’t say such things.”

“How can I not when they’re true? The Stars know my true heart whether I speak it or not, I simply wish you to know.” A smile lit up his face.

He leaned over to kiss me, then froze up before suddenly shoving me to the ground and moving over me. There was a thwack as the arrow meant for my heart embedded itself in him. I saw pain in his face. It hurt me tremendously. 

He coughed and got blood on my left cheek, then pressed a last kiss to my lips before rolling off of me and onto his back and allowing the arrow to pierce his heart.

I didn’t know how to react or what to think. I barely noticed the archer running off into the distance. They had no wings, I remember that. And the arrow was Elven. I stared in shock at my dead and bleeding husband for what seemed like ages before I cried out for help. The sand on the beach was so deeply stained blue by the time my guards got there that there was no chance that he would ever be coming back to me. There was a hole in my heart where that arrow should have gone. To this day I wish it had been me instead of him. If it had been me, it would have been over. Perria would have gotten what she wanted and none of this would have happened. Nrenighnx would have gotten on better without me than I did without him. He was my rock. He was so much stronger than I ever thought I’d be.

When I got home from losing the love of my life, I did not eat. Dalilah’s birthday celebration was cancelled when she was told of her father’s death, and the castle was closed to visitors. I did not leave my room for six days. My brother in law, our chef, brought me all my meals and took them away when I did not touch them for hours after they’d been delivered. Luna was upset, but she went through with planning her wedding, insisting that he would have wanted her to find some solace in the events of his passing. Lucas was a real help in keeping her positive, and he also kept me updated on the goings on around the castle and the town.

The only reason I ended up out of my room the seventh day after my husband’s death is that my best friend, the daughter of the woman who had ordered my death, showed up at the city gates and insisted that she needed to talk to me, that it was urgent and she had very little time before she had to fly on back home. She insisted her mother didn’t know she had come, so the guards asked what I wanted to do, and I told them that I would see her.

I dressed myself, ate a small meal prepared by Ventiliachna, and I made my way to my office on the first floor. Within minutes she was brought there and I told the guard to wait outside the door. I didn’t want my private conversation to become gossip in the barracks.

“Claudina,” She said, placing her palms flat on my desk as she leaned forward towards me. “I overheard mother talking to one of her personal assassins. She killed him after he gave her the news of your husband’s death. Are you doing alright? I… I actively listened for any new information after I heard that and I found out that she’s planning another attack, this time going after your daughters.” She stopped talking. “Claudina, are you listening to me? Your daughter’s are in danger. I don’t know how long it will be until she strikes, but you really should be cautious. Don’t let them out of your sight.”

I looked at her and sighed. “The girls aren’t allowed to leave the castle. The only people allowed in and out are my guards, my personal friends, and the soldiers. I don’t think I can take many more precautions than that, now can I?”

She huffed and slumped down into one of the chairs in the room. “You should assign a soldier each to watch them, a personal guard of sorts. Please don’t spare any precaution. My mother’s as crafty as she is bitchy and I do not want those girls to get hurt.”

“That would be a waste of resources and it would take the soldiers away from training they desperately need. Now that I know who sent the assassin I need to start making war preparations, don’t I? This can not go unpunished. My husband was murdered.”

“I’m well aware your husband was murdered, Clau, but you have to protect your daughters. They should be your priority right now, not revenge. Focusing on revenge is like asking for Corruption to take hold of your heart like it has Mother.” She sighed and shook her head.

“I will do as I damn well please, Serriona. She killed my husband and she’s now threatening my daughters. Like hell I’m going to not get fucking vengeance for what that bitch has done and has yet to do. I’m not going to fucking let her hurt any of us.” I stood up, clenching my teeth and trying not to lash out. She hadn’t done anything but worry for my girls. There was nothing wrong in that.

“I’m sorry for yelling at you.” I said, “Please go. Before Perria realizes you’ve gone. I’d hate for you to get hurt. I will make sure that my daughters are safe. I love them more than the Stars.”

“That’s a blasphemous thing to say, my Queen.”

“I honestly don’t care right now. The Stars didn’t give my husband back. He died righteously. They should have brought him back. Now go.”

Serriona stood up and left my office, and I hobbled back up to my bedroom and laid down, wanting nothing more than for this to be over already. I wanted nothing more in that moment than for Perria to simply fall over dead so that I wouldn’t have to deal with any of this without my husband. There was no reason for him to have died. The Stars should have brought him back. He was a righteous man. He died righteously, selflessly. He sacrificed his own life to save mine.

I suppose the legend isn’t true. Righteous and selfless men who die in battle aren’t resurrected that night. I began doubting the Stars and what we’d been taught they could do. They would do. 

I didn’t leave my room again until the next morning, though I did begin eating. I needed to regain and keep my strength if I was to be leading the soldiers into battle eventually. I needed to hone my magical ability, and I needed to learn to wield a sword. There was much to be done.

When I did finally leave my room after a good night’s sleep, I learned that Perria had struck in the night. Dalilah was missing.


	2. Kidnapped - Dalilah

Exactly one week after my father was shot in the back with an arrow intended for my mother, I stood out on my balcony getting a breath of fresh air. I thought Mother was fucking stupid for not letting us out of the castle. I felt trapped, like a Nuult in a cage. It had been a horrible week. I get that Father died, after all it was my fucking birthday that he did, but I felt the precautions she was taking were ridiculous. We all knew relations with the Elves were tense, they always had been. Just because Perria went and tried to relieve the tension by taking out Mother doesn’t mean that we can’t keep going about normal business. The assassin probably didn’t even return to her since he didn’t get his right target.

My thoughts were very wrong. As I was standing out on the balcony, someone shot me in the wing with an arrow coated in a rather potent potion of some sort and I was knocked out cold. I didn’t wake back up until they’d gotten me back to wherever they were meant to take me. It was a tiny room with barely any space for the bed it held, and it had no windows or doors. The carpet was really nice, but the paper was peeling off the walls in places, and there was water damage in the corner dripping all down the paper crease on the wall.

I don’t know how many days I spent down there before someone finally came to speak with me. I think it was at least a month, maybe more. They dropped food in through the ceiling when I was sleeping, I think, through the same hatch the boy came through.

He was about the same age as me, maybe a year or so younger, with a dark black tuft of curly hair on the top of his head. He was an elf, plain as day. It wasn’t so much his lack of wings that gave him away, no. It was the cut on his cheek that bled silver, a stark contrast to the dark color of his skin.

He drew a dagger from his belt and motioned to the chair near the wall, saying something I couldn’t quite understand. I interpreted his gesture as meaning he wanted me to sit, so I did. I was unarmed. Wasn’t about to risk my life trying to fight a boy with a blade.

He stepped close, bringing the dagger up to my cheek. “I’m s’posed to prove I got th’right Pixie and I gotta slash up y’ur wings, alright? If y’need you can bite onna this…” He drew a wadded up ball of cloth from the pack at his hip and stuffed it into my mouth. I suppose he was ordered to keep me quiet and didn’t want it to seem like he was being too demanding.

“I’m real sorry for what I’ma ‘bout to do to ya. I know y’ur wings don’t heal from this s’uff.” 

I nodded. If he was working for that bitch, the Elven Empress, if she was the one who hired him, I knew he had no choice. I could see in his eyes he didn’t want to do this, so I spread my wings for him, and I bit down hard on the cloth ball that had been shoved nearly down into my throat.

As he made the first cut I couldn’t help but scream. It was muffled by the cloth, luckily for him. Part of me felt as though he might be punished if anyone heard me.

By the fifth cut I was beginning to be desensitized to the pain, and after the thirtieth he took a break. Then, after the last of the prior pain had faded, he started again. It was the worst pain I had ever had to endure, and it was even worse once my brain finally made the connection that what he was doing would keep me from ever flying again. He might as well have chopped each wing off completely.

I lost count of the number of slices he’d made through my wing by the time he finished the first of the two, and I was close to losing consciousness. I barely remember the first cut on my second wing, probably because I couldn’t stay awake any longer through it. When I woke up again, the room was again empty and I lay in the bed, completely stripped of all but my smallclothes. It was horrifying to wake up that way, I tell you. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

When I moved, reaching for the thin excuse for a blanket, my body ached. The irrational part of my brain started telling me that the Elven boy raped me, though I knew it not to be true. He was too pained by what he had already done to me. A boy in his state wouldn’t even think of it. I was able to eventually convince myself that he’d only stripped me of my clothes because they had been soaked in my blood from the slashing of my wings. That had to be it, because the clothes were nowhere to be found, but there was blood. Quite a bit of it, all around the chair that the act had been done in.

I wrapped the blanket around me and did my best to get back to sleep. When next I woke I was dressed again, now in clothes that weren’t my own with cuts in the back to accommodate my slashed up wings. As I sat up I noticed the boy sitting on his knees by the blood, trying to clean it up with an already blue-stained sponge.

“Why do you do what she says? Why not run off to my kingdom? My mother would make sure you stayed safe.” I said to him, “You wouldn’t have to worry about Perria ever laying a Stars damned hand on you.”

He glanced up at me, then went back to work. “Th’empress’s threatening my fam’ly. I leave or don’ do what sh’wants me to and she’ll kill ‘em. I like m’fam’ly a lot, y’see, and I’m notta ‘bout to let ‘em get hurt b’cause I couldn’t do what I was told. I’m sorry, Princess. Not gonna run off with ya back to y’ur home just ‘cause ya say I’ll b’safe. Y’can’t promise the same for my fam’ly.”

“Oh. Well.” I couldn’t really think of anything else to say so I laid back down in the bed. “How long will I be here, do you reckon?”

“I was told it’ll be ‘till y’ur mum gives up’nd surrenders ‘erself to Empress Perria.” He finished what he was doing and tugged on a line to get himself back up. “Or ‘till y’die on y’ur own.” Someone dropped a ladder down for him and he climbed back up, taking a dirty water bucket and his sponge back with him. The line and the ladder were pulled back up, and the hatch slammed shut.

I made a mental note of the way it opened. It opened down. I figured it was an important thing to remember for when I finally decided to start plotting my escape.


	3. Persuaded - Dalilah

I didn’t see anyone again for another month, not even to drop in food. Once I got to a certain point of hungry, I stopped sleeping. The discomfort from my growling stomach kept me awake. I will be the first to admit that my life as a princess was painstakingly privileged before I got kidnapped. I got food every day, whenever I wanted it. I had an entire stable full of Scnodes and Razii to ride whenever I wanted. I could do pretty much whatever I wanted whenever I wanted and I never went without. That poor boy who was forced to kidnap me and torture me… I imagine he had nothing. He had nothing and when his family was threatened by the government that was meant to protect them, there was nothing he could do. My family was the government, back home. I would never have to worry about that.

Despite feeling absolutely sorry for the poor boy, I pinned him against the wall with a sharp piece of the chair I’d broken off a week before pressed to his stomach and my arm pressed against his throat.

“Alright, here’s what’s going to happen. You are going to go back up there, and you’re going to kill the other guards, then you’re going to drop the ladder down to me. I have more than this makeshift spear at my disposal, so you shouldn’t dare not do as I say.” I said.

He seemed far too relaxed, like he thought I wouldn’t actually impale him. He sighed softly. “Dalilah, I can’t do that. The Empress’ll kill m’fam’ly.”

“How do you know she hasn’t already? She’s Corrupt, you fucking idiot. Taking lives is the only thing that keeps the Corruption strong in her, and she likely already killed them. Have you been allowed to see them since she plucked you away from them?”

His expression dropped. “No.”

“No? Right. They’re dead. Now help me get out of here or you will be too.”

“I’ll die either way.”

“If you help me, I can promise that you won’t. I’ll protect you. From Perria and my mother, both.”

“How d’ya expect m’to believe ya?” He stared at me, looking almost afraid. “You’ve a sharp thin’ pressed t’my stomach.”

“It’s only there so that you can’t hurt me. I’ll drop it the moment you agree to help me, I promise. Is that good enough for you?” I was starting to sound like a monster, and I realized it right as the words left my mouth, so I dropped the makeshift stake onto the floor and stepped back, staring at him. “No… Just help me and I’ll make sure you stay safe… That I promise. I’m sorry for being so… Evil… Just there.”

He took several steps away from me and called up for the ladder to be dropped down, climbing out. He pulled the trapdoor shut, and everything went silent. I sighed and sat down on the bed, waiting. After several minutes I began to believe he wasn’t going to do anything, but even if he didn’t I was glad I didn’t hurt him. I cannot allow myself to stoop to that level. Ever. I will not kill.

I flopped back on the mattress, watching that trapdoor, waiting and hoping it would open and slap against the ceiling like it did every time someone opened it, since they had to kick it to get it open. Some would say my ability to hope makes me delusional, I think. It was quite silly for me to think that he would actually help me.

He did. It took him several hours, but he did come back to get me out. I heard the usual bang as the door slammed open and it startled me from a light sleep. I quickly sat up and watched as he lowered the ladder, then I walked over and made my way up it.

The room I exited into looked like nothing I’d really ever seen before. The walls were stone, painted over with someone’s art of people dancing under the Stars, barefoot and free with their long dark hair and dark skin, though they all glowed as if they were Stars themselves. It took me a moment to realize that the painting was actually of the Elves’ ancestors. All of us become Stars in death, whether you’re winged or wingless.

There were two round tables in the room, diagonal from eachother, each with a number of chairs around them. It seemed almost as if, while I was down there, there were at least twelve people above me at any given time. Guards. Perria must have been truly terrified of my escape.

I noticed there were no dead bodies in the room, meaning that he hadn’t killed anyone. He simply misdirected them, sent them somewhere else so that I could have enough time to escape.

I looked at him. “Will you help me out of this place completely?”

He nodded. “Ye, I will. S’rry it took s’long for m’to get you out. Need’d’a see for m’self whether m’fam’ly really was dead.”

“Are they?”

“Y’were’ight. Sh’killed ‘em. Name’s Nikki, b’th’way. Avagarce.”

“It is nice to finally meet you, Mr. Avagarce. Let’s get out of here before they get back from wherever you sent them off to, shall we?”

“Right! W’should d’that.” He started off down the hall. “W’should be fine for a walk or two. Walk fast.”

“Will do.” We made our way down the halls, me following him and us both staying somewhat in the shadows. This was a dangerous thing we were doing, trying to escape. I hoped we came across no one.

You see, I do hope too much. We were almost out when the others came back, and it wasn’t pretty. I hardly remember what happened, besides the pain. Nikki saw them and ran off, leaving me alone in the hall.

“Hey! You’re not supposed to be out of the cell!”

“Heh, well the Empress said we could do anything we wanted if she managed to get out, didn’t she?”

“That’s right! She did.”

I could almost feel the Corruption coming from them. I could tell what they were going to do if they got me, if I didn’t fight. So I fought. They came at me and I grabbed a torch off the wall and burned one of them by smacking it across his face. He yelled and punched me in the jaw, trying to put out the flames on his cheek despite knowing they were enchanted to not go out except for by water.

I didn’t see the punch coming so I didn’t have a chance to dodge it, and I dropped the torch. One of them got his hand around my throat and pinned me against the wall, so I kicked him where it hurts and when he released me I tried to run past the others.

As I was running, an arrow embedded itself in my shoulder and caused me to stumble. I didn’t fall, I just kept going. I made it outside and I kept running. Another arrow tore through my flesh as I got just outside the city walls, this one going completely through my leg, almost by my ankle.

I collapsed and someone yanked both arrows out of me before flipping me over onto my back. I didn’t have time to react before a fist connected with my face. I remember I was beaten until I could no longer see due to how swollen my face was, and then something sharp was held to my throat. I felt someone’s foot connect with my ribs, and then with my head, and then everything went black.

When I woke up again, someone was healing me, and my entire body ached. I tried to get up, but they pushed me back down.

“Don’t strain yourself, Dalilah. I’ve got you. You’re safe. As soon as I get you healed up a bit, I’m taking you home.”

I didn’t recognize the voice. “Who..?”

“Serriona. It’s going to be okay.”

I should have recognized her voice. The heat from the magic stopped and she helped me up onto the back of her Scnode. I wasn’t bleeding anymore, but the pain of my wounds was still almost unbearable. Almost as soon as we started off I was out again. I didn’t dream. Everything was black until I woke up in the Healer’s room back at home.


End file.
